Summerville routs Mariposa in first round

Take note, Tuolumne  the next time a Summerville High School boys' team needs a first-round playoff win, make sure the Mariposa Grizzlies are in the same bracket.

Just 15 months after the football team beat Mariposa in a first-round playoff game, the Bears' basketball team pulled off the same feat, waltzing past the Grizzlies 69-48 last night at the Summerville gym in a Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV playoff game.

Less than one week after ending the regular season on a thoroughly down note with a double-digit home loss to Mother Lode League champion Amador, the Bears (21-7) looked like they might be in for a repeat performance when they opened the game with an 11-11 first quarter against the Grizzlies (12-14), the Southern League's third-place team.

"We came out a little tight in the first quarter," Summerville coach Marlen Ronten said. "At the break, I told them to calm down, and they did and really took off in the second quarter."

While Daniel Atkins (13 points) and Cody Munsel (12 points, all in the first half) got the ball rolling for the Bears by draining back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers to start the second quarter, it was a hustle play by Joe Sanders that fueled Summerville's 11-3 run to start the period.

After blocking a 3-point attempt by Mariposa's Dale Fisher, Sanders sprinted full bore and dove for the loose ball, tipping it to Quint Gerber.

Gerber missed his 3-point attempt, but Atkins pulled down the rebound and dished off to Munsel in the corner, and Munsel finished the play by hitting his second straight trey.

After Mariposa responded with a basket, Sanders once again got the crowd on its feet with a rebound-and-dunk of a Gerber misfire, upping the Bears' lead to 21-14 with 5:33 remaining in the first half.

Mariposa cut it to 22-18 with 3:06 remaining, but with Atkins converting a 3-point play, and Sanders and Jake Heldstab each hitting a 3-pointer in the closing seconds, the Bears took a 31-23 lead into the break.